Xu Ziyan thought for a moment, then glanced back at Xu Zirong.
Xu Zirong stood silently behind him. From beginning to end, he had not spoken a word, looking like a steadfast guard quietly protecting his master’s safety.
Xu Ziyan took a deep breath and turned back to Jiang Ying. “I have a special ability. Sometimes it activates on its own, and whenever it does, I can sense whether certain people connected to me are in danger.”
“Including Fang Tianrui?” Jiang Ying asked, narrowing his eyes.
Realizing that Fang Tianrui was the Young Master Fang mentioned in the gossip, Xu Ziyan nodded.
“What is your relationship with Tianrui?” Jiang Ying demanded.
“Nothing at present. Whether we’ll have one in the future depends on whether the two of you survive what’s coming.”
Jiang Ying lowered his head in thought. After a while, he looked up again. “Why help us?”
Xu Ziyan looked helpless. “Didn’t I just say it? My ability lets me sense danger to people connected to me. That means perhaps you or perhaps Fang Tianrui will help me someday. I’m only saving my own life.”
Jiang Ying frowned, trying to judge whether to believe him. The claim was almost impossible to accept. But having been confined within the Jiang household since childhood and only recently gained a chance to slip free, he could not be sure whether such extraordinary powers existed. If the risk were his alone, he might gamble. But with Fang Tianrui involved—
He did not dare.
“What do you want me to do?” Jiang Ying asked.
“Nothing too difficult. First, you have to keep my ability a secret. I don’t want anyone else to know about it.”
“Fine.” Jiang Ying nodded. He had no reason to expose such a bizarre claim, especially if it would bring him no benefit.
“Second, although you officially ‘don’t exist’ within the Jiang family, I’m sure someone of your abilities knows what’s happening in the household. Who do you think is most likely to collude with demon cultivators?”
“Demon cultivators?” Jiang Ying’s pupils contracted sharply.
Although confined to a hidden chamber, he had lived all his life in Xuanyu Domain. No one there could be ignorant of the struggle between cultivators and demon cultivators.
Righteous cultivators and demonic-path cultivators might fight one another to the death, but when facing demon cultivators, there was a seventy-percent chance they would join forces unless they bore an irreconcilable hatred.
The Jiang family was only a clan in a remote little city now, but long ago it had been a moderately powerful family. It had declined after its high-level cultivators fell in the war against demon cultivators, eventually retreating to this small city.
Had their ancestors not met Dao Lord Luo Yun on the battlefield, the family would not enjoy his protection today.
Jiang Ying hated demon cultivators just as fiercely and was enraged by the thought that someone in his own family might be colluding with them.
Although his Demon-Attracting Dao Body prevented him from practicing orthodox cultivation methods, Jiang Ying was not evil by nature. Otherwise, now that he had the ability to leave the secret chamber, he would never willingly maintain the illusion that he was still imprisoned. He had mixed feelings of love and resentment toward Jiang Tianxing and Jiang Ying, the daughter of the household, but familial affection outweighed the bitterness.
His expression shifted repeatedly and at times became quite fierce. Xu Ziyan waited quietly. He was not worried that Jiang Ying would dismiss his warning; from any sensible perspective, he had little reason to deceive him.
Besides, Xu Ziyan was certain that a man nicknamed the “Evil Ghost,” whom both righteous and demonic factions had hunted without ever managing to catch, could hardly be incompetent.
“If anyone in the Jiang family would collude with demon cultivators, the only possibility is my second uncle,” Jiang Ying said, abruptly becoming “calm” once again.
“Your second uncle?” Xu Ziyan nodded and gave him a faint, knowing smile. “You’re not worried I’m lying?”
Jiang Ying met his gaze evenly and smiled a little. “I can’t see what you would gain by doing so. More importantly, I’m currently at your mercy. You could kill me whenever you like. Arguing with you under these circumstances would hardly be wise.”
Xu Ziyan smiled. Jiang Ying did not fully believe him, but suspicion had clearly taken root. That was enough. Dealing with clever people really was convenient.
“Then let’s leave it there. I ‘sensed’ that you and Young Master Fang will face tremendous danger because of this traitor who has allied himself with demon cultivators. He may even lose an arm. Whether you can change that outcome may depend on you.” Having said this, Xu Ziyan brushed himself off and left.
Xu Zirong followed close behind, though before leaving he gave Jiang Ying a meaningful look.
That single glance filled Jiang Ying with a sudden sense of mortal danger, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead. His Demon-Attracting Dao Body gave him an innate sensitivity to demonic cultivation techniques. He could even faintly discern the level of the demonic arts another person cultivated.
Now his instincts told him that this man practiced a terrifyingly powerful art. Although his visible cultivation was only at the late stage of Foundation Establishment, the uncanny methods of his demonic art might allow him to contend even with a Meridian Condensation cultivator.
It was a kind of pressure, somewhat like the method Dao Lord Luo Yun had once used when trying to plant a seed of fear in Xu Zirong. But this glance was merely a powerful warning. Unless Jiang Ying insisted on courting death himself, he should survive so long as he did not touch Xu Zirong’s bottom line.
Xu Ziyan had no idea that Xu Zirong had silently threatened Jiang Ying. Nor did he realize that Jiang Ying’s fear of Xu Zirong had made Xu Ziyan’s outrageous story sound considerably more credible.
After all, Jiang Ying did not know their identities. He assumed someone of their strength could sweep through the Jiang family without difficulty. Once one’s power reached a certain level, elaborate plots became unnecessary.
If Jiang Ying himself had the power to crush a whole clan, he would never waste time on complicated schemes. Unless, of course, his goal extended beyond the Jiang family.
Xu Ziyan returned silently to his courtyard. No one in the entire Jiang estate realized that the brothers had taken a little stroll through the garden.
Once they were gone, the blood vines withered and released Jiang Ying.
The wickedly alluring Jiang Ying stared toward the passage’s end and narrowed his eyes. “Do you believe him?”
The refined Jiang Ying picked up a fragment of dead blood vine and rolled it between his thumb and forefinger. Instead of answering, he murmured, “A combination of blood and wood-element techniques?”
“Hey!” The wicked Jiang Ying was indignant. “I’m talking to you!”
The refined Jiang Ying tossed away the dead vine and lightly dusted off his fingers. “Does it matter whether I believe him? Since this concerns Fang Tianrui, neither you nor I can simply ignore it.”
The wicked Jiang Ying fell silent and angrily stamped on the remnants of the blood vine.
Ignoring this childish display, the refined Jiang Ying said, “Whatever else happens, we’d better meet Fang Tianrui first. What do you think?”
“What do I think?!” The wicked Jiang Ying kicked the dead vines aside. “That idiot still thinks I’m Little Sister! He’s probably heartbroken by now! Why would he agree to see us?!”
The refined Jiang Ying smiled faintly. “Exactly. Since he’s ‘heartbroken,’ isn’t this the perfect opportunity for us to comfort him?”
“But…” The wicked Jiang Ying hesitated. “We can’t get into the Fang residence. If we go looking for him now, won’t we expose ourselves?”
The refined Jiang Ying remained unconcerned. “Someone has already found us here. Do you still think we’re a secret known only to Father and Little Sister? Still, you have a point. We should find a way to lure him out instead.”
The wicked Jiang Ying rubbed his face irritably. “We haven’t been out in days. We don’t even know how he’s doing!”
The refined Jiang Ying was anxious too, particularly after what Xu Ziyan had said.
Losing an arm…
The refined Jiang Ying pressed his lips together. When he had been with Fang Tianrui under the identity “Jiang Ying,” Fang Tianrui had said his greatest dream was to become a sword cultivator. A sword cultivator without an arm? Jiang Ying could not bear the thought of the person he loved suffering such a blow.
Jiang Ying slowly returned to his private chamber, removed a key from a hidden compartment, and unlocked the shackles around his ankles.
The chains were indeed remarkable, forged from thousand-year refined iron. But there was no reason a lock had to be opened through brute force.
He smiled and arranged a decoy on the bed to make it look as though he were sleeping. Then, with a soft pop, his body dissolved into a wisp of bluish smoke that drifted through the crack of the window…
With only two days remaining before Jiang Ying’s wedding, Xu Ziyan and Xu Zirong had already met several of the Jiang family elders at Jiang Tianxing’s introduction. Naturally, these elders all supported Jiang Tianxing. The handful who opposed him did not appear.
Xu Ziyan thoughtfully watched Jiang Tianxing cheerfully introduce the “direct disciples of a Flowing Light Sect Nascent Soul Dao Lord.” The elders’ expressions were a mixture of shock and delight.
“It looks as though Jiang Tianxing has noticed something too,” Xu Ziyan murmured, stroking his chin.
Xu Zirong’s ears immediately perked up. “Brother, have you discovered something?”
Xu Ziyan paused, then leaned close to Xu Zirong’s ear and whispered, “I feel clouds of war gathering over Wuti City.”
Xu Zirong’s face went blank with exasperation. Had Brother become addicted to playing the mystic?
“You don’t believe me?” Xu Ziyan raised his eyebrows.
Xu Zirong nodded slowly and answered with perfect seriousness, “I believe everything Brother says.”
Xu Ziyan silently turned his face away. Good grief, his brother was too obedient! It was becoming embarrassing to tell blatant lies to his face. That little expression, as if saying “Even if I know you’re lying, I’ll believe you,” was so adorable that Xu Ziyan nearly lost control of himself and wanted to pull Zirong into an embrace and ruffle his hair vigorously.
How can my little brother be this cute?!
“Fellow Daoist Xu, do you have any plans for today?” Jiang Tianxing had apparently finished exchanging pleasantries with the elders and came over.
Although Jiang Tianxing himself had reached the late stage of Meridian Condensation, he did not put on airs before a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator like Xu Ziyan. Instead, he addressed him as an equal. Even without the intimidating name of a Nascent Soul Dao Lord behind him, reaching such a level at around twenty was astonishing talent.